Perfecting the Art of Decanting Young Wines

Double decant with RIEDEL

Traditionally, only mature red wines were decanted in order to separate sediments and tartrate crystals, sometimes called wine diamonds, from the wine. However young red wines also benefit from decanting, as the process effectively acts to speed up the ageing process. The RIEDEL brand has perfected the art of decanting young wines with their intricate “double decanting” products.

Do all young wines benefit from decanting?

Simply put, any wine that would benefit from ageing will benefit from decanting.

Young wines taste smoother and rounder when decanted, as exposure to oxygen burns off the sulfides in wine, which are designed to protect the wines as it ages. By energetically upending it into a decanter, aerating the wine completely and vigorously, you will reveal greater aromatic expression and more character and complexity.

So if you have a bottle in your cellar that you know would improve with another ten years rest, but you’re desperate to drink it now, it’s time to get your hands one of RIEDEL’s highly functional decanters.

How does “double decanting” work?

Through intelligent design, these pieces actively aerate your wine as it moves through to pour. The shapes include air pockets that create a vacuum that pops oxygen into the wine as it travels through the decanter.

RIEDEL debuted their first double decanting piece, Eve, in 2008, which kicked off a selection of decanters themed around snakes. The Snake series are the perfect instrument for the heightened enjoyment of young wines and add incredible theatre to your dining setting. They combine spectacular design with excellent functionality, so the decanting process becomes part of the enjoyment!

Eve (2008)

Sensual and patented functionality

Eve is an extravagant carafe with a striking design, and a reference to Eve’s temptation in the Garden of Eden. But this handmade decanter is more than pleasing to the eye. Its double aeration function allows for wine to be perfectly aerated and portioned so serving becomes a true experience!

Once moved around its own axis, the wine is aerated through the first chamber, before the ideal quantity of wine reaches the second chamber. This one-of-a-kind combination of aeration and portion control, developed by Maximilian J. Riedel, ensured the Eve decanter received worldwide patent protection in May 2009. Eve is an art object that gives the greatest pleasure, accompanied by the same audible glugging sound as the Mamba.

Since its release, RIEDEL introduced Evchen, a smaller but no less enticing (or functional) version of the successful Eve decanter . Handmade in Kufstein, Austria like Eve, it impresses with its handy size.

Mamba (2011)

Extravagant and efficient

Mamba is modelled on the elegant black mamba, the fastest snake in the world, whose energy and vigour inspired this decanter’s seductive design. The way that the wine flows through its several chambers means it is double decanted and intensively aerated – an effect that can only be achieved after several hours in a traditional decanter.

The long neck is ideal for pouring and has an additional vitalising effect when wine is served. The ceremony of service is accompanied by a sonorous glugging sound – audible evidence not only of perfect aeration, but also of the wine’s vitality.

The Mamba decanter has been reinvented in a number of ways: in Mini size (for a half bottle of wine); in black and green as a Double Magnum; and with optic design in the Fatto a Mano series.

Boa (2013)

Elegant and upstanding

This handmade decanter was introduced to celebrate the Year of the Snake, which represents power, among other qualities. The body of the Boa is more tightly coiled than previously designed RIEDEL Snake Decanters, and brings out the full flavour profile of wines with its double decanted design.

For the Boa, designer Maximilian J. Riedel took inspiration from his travels throughout North and South America, the native home of the boa constrictor. To introduce the decanter, Maximilian developed the first-ever web-ready video, a cartoon detailing RIEDEL’s celebration of glassware’s many functional forms. Click here to see it!

RIEDEL has made a selection of other double decanting pieces – check them all out below!